Gairdner J. History of the Life and Reign of Richard the Third: To which is Added the Story of Perkin Warbeck from Original Documents

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PERKIN WARBECK.

as ' from Richard who calls himself King of England.' It

clearly had very little effect upon the Spanish sovereigns, and

surely if it could have influenced them at all it was not by

inducing them to believe in the truth of the adventurer's story.

There was one flaw, indeed, in his statements which Ferdinand

and Isabella may not have been able to detect—the Pretender

made himself nearly nine years old, instead of eleven at the

time that his brother Edward V. was murdered; but they must

have seen clearly the gross improbability of the whole story,

and the manifestly strained effort to account for the conceal-

ment of an heir to the crown for fully eight long years. That

was in itself rather a considerable period for a person of so

much consequence to lie hid; but when at last the concealed

Prince thought he might safely throw off his cloak of darkness,

what need could there have been for further mystery about the

person who preserved him and the two jailors to whose custody

he had been committed? The tale involved a great many

circumstances which clearly would not bear the light of inquiry;

and Warbeck could hardly have deceived any one who did not

wish to be deceived'.

It has hitherto been supposed that after his arrival in the

Low Countries Perkin remained there about two years and a

half.

But foreign historians now supplement our information

from continental archives and old publications little known in

this country; by which it appears that he had not been more

than a year in Flanders when, in November 1493 he arrived at

Vienna along with Duke Albert of Saxony to be present at the

James IV.'s entertainment of Perkin, and his persistent recognition of

his pretensions—which seems to have continued even after events had pretty

completely refuted them, was no doubt due to that element of romance

which is seen in the characters of all the Stuarts. And if it was Warbeck

who wrote the anonymous love letter found by Bergenroth at Simancas

(Cal. of Spanish State Papers, i. pp. 78, 79) he certainly was just the man to

win such a king's sympathies, for the writer was certainly endowed with no

small feeling of romance

himself.

But James was pledged to Perkin before

he saw him.

AT VIENNA. 28l

funeral of the Emperor Frederic III.

We know also that a

secret correspondent of Sir John Kendal, Prior of St John's at

Clerkenwell, informed him about this time that " the Merchant

of the Ruby" had been unable to sell his wares in Flanders

for the price he asked for them, and was therefore going to the

court of the King of the Romans to see if he could get more;

and this language was quite understood by Kendal to mean

that Warbeck could not get sufficient aid in Flanders for an

enterprise against England

. Maximilian King of the Romans,

though not a prince of over abundant resources, was just the

man to offer higher terms than he could afford to pay. He

received the youth with all the respect due to a son of

Edward IV. who was the rightful King of England, and on

St Nicholas' day (6th December) when the funeral actually

took place, gave him an appropriate place both in the

procession and in the Church

Maximilian had a grudge against Henry VII. He had

expected the King of England to fight his battles, and had

been sadly disappointed at peace being made between England

and France by the treaty of Etaples. He was quite ready for

an intrigue against Henry, and arguments of course were not

wanting to justify it. One of his Council told him that the

King of England (presumably by his prohibition of trade with

Flanders) had been the first to break the old alliance with

Burgundy, and Warbeck was a convenient instrument of

Lichnowsky's

Geschichte

des Hauses Habsburg, vol. viii. (Verzeichniss

der Urkunden, No. 2000).

Letters, &*c, ii. 321. This appears in the course of a long deposition

against the Prior by one Bernard de Vignolles, and though the general

contents of the document are no doubt open to suspicion this intimation

was evidently correct. The writer of the letters was one William de Noyon,

a knight of the Order

himself,

or at least one who immediately after became

a knight of the Order—he is called 'Cavaliero de Rhodes,' in Kendal's

own letter at p. 323, though here he is only called the Prior's servant.

Jacobi Unresti Chronicon Austriacum in Hahn's Collectio Monu-

mentorum, i. 784, 78?.

282 PERKIN WARBECK.

revenge. The cool assurance of the young man seemed to

give credit to his pretensions; for he said he would prove

before Henry VII.

himself,

if the opportunity were only given

him, by the evidence of three marks upon his person which

those who had known the Duke of York in early years could

vouch for, that he was no other than the person he claimed

to be. No great amount of food, perhaps, was required to

satisfy Maximilian's credulity; and yet it may be doubted

whether he was really deceived. If so, his own subjects in

the Tyrol certainly were not; who being applied to for

16,000 florins to promote an enterprise in behalf of the

pretender, told him without much ceremony that it was a

baseless and ill-imagined project

In the summer of 1494 Maximilian had come down to the

Low Countries with the pretender in his company, whom he

now publicly acknowledged as King of England. In July

Henry sent thither Garter King of Arms to remonstrate

against this

; instructing him to show both Maximilian and

the Duchess Margaret by word of mouth that the young

man was really a native of Tournay and son of a burgess

there. But the King of the Romans and the Duchess could not

endure to be told so; and the herald, though threatened with

imprisonment, proceeded then to proclaim it aloud in the streets

of Mechlin, declaring, in the presence of ten or twelve officers,

kings and heralds of arms, that the King of England had

positive proof of the low origin of the pretender. Maximilian

was probably a little disconcerted by the incident; for in

September, notwithstanding that he was so deeply committed

to Perkin's cause, he desired Philip of Nassau and the provost

' Mit kleinem grundt eingebildet,' is the expression used by the

Statthatter and Regents of the Tyrol in their reply. See Ulmann's Kaiser

Maximilian I., i. 263. These pieces of information are derived by Ulmann

from the Archives of Vienna and Innsbruck.

See Molinet, v. 46. The date is fixed by the Pell records, as will be

seen in Anstis' History of the Garter, i. 365.

IN THE LOW COUNTRIES AGAIN. 283

of Utrecht to make inquiry of good authorities what was really

thought and said of Perkin in England

. But in the meanwhile,

whatever secret doubts he may have entertained he continued

to give him the most ostentatious support. At Mechlin, on

St Bartholomew's Day (24th August), being that year a Sunday,

he rode to church accompanied by his son the Archduke

Philip and by Perkin as the recognised King of England. On

the 6th October following, Philip, now sixteen years of age,

took his oath as Duke of Brabant in the church of Our Lady,

now the cathedral, at Antwerp; and the so-called King of

England was among the spectators of the ceremony. He had

a bodyguard of gentlemen with 20 archers bearing the badge

of the White Rose, and he kept his state at the ' Hotel des

Anglais'—I presume the house of the English Merchant

Adventurers, who had deserted the Low Countries on the

interruption of trade when the king removed the mart to

Calais. There he hung out his arms—three leopards and

three fleurs de Us, with the legend ' Arma Richardi Principis

Walliae et Ducis Eboraci, filii et haeredis Eduardi Quarti, nuper

Dei gratia Regit Anglise et Francise, Domini Ybernias.' The

effrontery of this display, after all that had taken place,

excited not a little astonishment, especially among Englishmen

in those parts, two of whom, strong partizans of 'Henry, made

a rather ignoble attempt to throw dirt at the impudent scutcheon,

but only succeeded in bespattering the house with mud and

then making their escape

Ulmann, /. c.

Molinet, v. 15, 16. The story of the attempt on the scutcheon is

given in these words:

' Done pour denigrer, abolir et diffamer tant les armes, le title, comme

celuy lequel s'en paroit, deux compaignons englez, armez et embastonnez a

la couverte, tenant le party du roy Henry, se approcherent de l'hostel ou

les armes estoient, et cuidans jecter contre les dites armes, illecq pendantes,

se addresserent contre l'huys, lequel fat ordoye et terny de terre et autres

immondices, dont ils avoient ung pot garni, afin de maculer et soulier les

dictes armes; ne sceurent faire leur emprinse si celeement qu'ilz ne fussent

284 PERKIN WARBECK.

Maximilian's support of the pretender was of course watched

with interest by other eyes than those of Henry. Charles VIII.

had during the summer sent an embassy to Maximilian, which

on its return to France reported that he was quite bent on

aiding Perkin and had come to Flanders with that view with

a considerable body of men. The French king, being now

the friend and ally of Henry, not only gave him notice of this

design, but offered, as he had originally assisted him to obtain

the crown, to aid him further in defending it, saying that

notwithstanding the considerable forces he himself then

required by sea and land for his enterprise against the realm

of Naples, he would give him ships from Brittany and

Normandy. Moreover, in case Henry were suddenly attacked,

he had given orders that Frenchmen might offer themselves

to his service as volunteers. Nothing could possibly be more

friendly, and Henry in reply expressed his cordial thanks,

saying he would gladly accept the French king's assistance

if any case of necessity should occur; but he really took no

account of the affair of the garfon, whom every one in England

knew quite well to be an impostor, the son of a boatman at

Tournay. This message Henry sent in August by Richmond

King of Arms, who was further instructed to tell Charles in

secret that the object of Maximilian was only to produce, if

possible, some misunderstanding between England and France,

for if Henry were only to incline to his desire he could be as

good friends with him as ever; but as Henry was firm in his

friendship towards France no doubt Maximilian would like to

see another king in England whom he could use to revenge

himself on Charles

There was some truth doubtless in these remarks; but the

bond of friendship between England and France was only a

veuz et poursuiviz; mais ils donnerent tant rude fuyte, qu'ils issirent hors la

ville sans estre apprehendez; et un autre, innocent, lequel n'en povoit mais,

et coulpe n'y avoit, fut tue de chaud sang.'

Letters and Papers, ii. 292-7.

THE PLOT THICKENS. 285

sense of mutual advantage on either side, and though at this

time it was really felt by both sovereigns, Charles, perhaps,

did not feel quite so sure of Henry as Henry did of him. For

the French king's plans against Naples were not relished

everywhere—not even by Henry

himself,

and if Charles were

very successful in Italy England was pretty sure to be asked to

join an alliance against him. Moreover, Alfonso II. of Naples

had received the Garter when he was Duke of Calabria not

long before, and rather hoped that his alliance with England

would protect him against France. On this subject, however,

Richmond was instructed to thank the French king for in-

forming Henry of his claims on Naples and of his preparations

by sea and land for the invasion of Italy,—preparations which

Henry commended as having been made with great prudence

—but to say that to avoid bloodshed he would be glad to

mediate, especially as the King of Naples had been admitted

to his Order

That Henry should make light of Perkin's pretensions in

his answer to the French king was not unnatural. Of course

he had a very just contempt for them, and not a very high

esteem, it may be, for Maximilian King of the Romans. But

he certainly could not view with indifference the formation

of conspiracies against himself abroad, avowedly aided by a

Yorkist princess in the Netherlands, and by one who, however

foolish in his tactics, was the visible head of the Holy Roman

Empire. For it was evident that with such auspicious support

outside the kingdom, treason and disloyalty would be greatly

encouraged within it. And in truth matters were now coming

to a crisis, about which Henry was much better informed than

the disaffected Yorkist refugees at Margaret's court imagined.

The little band of exiles had been augmented from time to

time by new conspirators escaped from England, some of

them anxious to learn and communicate secretly to friends at

home the steps taken for an invasion. Among those who had

Arctuzologia, xxvii. 202, 3.

286 PERKIN WARBECK.

so escaped was Sir Robert Clifford, specially commissioned by

the unquiet spirits in England to repair to Margaret's court,

and send them information. His accession was welcomed in

Flanders as giving new life to the confederacy, and he wrote

home that he knew the adventurer by his face to be the

undoubted son of King Edward. Soon he became the heart

and soul of the whole conspiracy. But Henry sent spies to

the Low Countries, some of them charged with secret assurances

of pardon, both to Clifford and to one William Barley, who

had escaped abroad along with him and was also deep in the

Yorkist secrets, if they would come home and reveal what they

knew. The offer took effect as regards Clifford, who received

his pardon on the 22nd December, 1494, and a reward of

^500 from the king on the 20th January following. But

Barlow did not make his submission to the king till two years

later

When Sir Robert returned to England, some of his revela-

tions had been already anticipated by the spies that Henry

had sent over, most of whom returned before him. But his

evidence was so important that we may well believe with

Lord Bacon that when the king on the 7th January removed

to the Tower—not apparently from Westminster, as Bacon

makes it, but from Greenwich, where he had kept Christmas

—it was with a view of giving Sir Robert a private audience in

a place where any important person in the court could be

arrested 'without suspicion or noise or sending abroad of

warrants.' Already the neck of the conspiracy had been

broken by the sudden arrest of a good many persons im-

plicated,—namely, of Lord Fitzwalter, Sir Simon Mountford,

Polydore Vergil: Hall: Letters, &c, Richard III. and Henry VII.,

ii.

374. Excerpta Historica, 100.

' Also this year [10 Henry VII. 1494-5] the king kept his Christmas

at Greenwich, and after he came to the Tower of London, where was

attached Sir William Stanley called the King's Chamberlain.' So says

the old City Chronicle, MS. Cott. Vitellius A. xvi. 152.

CLIFFORD'S REVELATIONS. 287

Sir Thomas Thwaites, William Daubeney, Robert Ratcliffe,

Thomas Cressenor and Thomas Astwood, besides William

Worseley, Dean of St Paul's, and some other priests and friars.

Most of these were tried for their lives in November, and

towards the end of January Mountford, Ratcliff and Daubeney

were beheaded, while others were hanged at Tyburn. The

churchmen received pardons, and Lord Fitzwalter also was

spared; but a year after, having endeavoured to escape from

prison at Calais, he too was brought to the block. But when

Clifford came before the king and was examined as to what

he knew he accused a man of far higher estimation than all

these—no less a person than Sir William Stanley, the Lord

Chamberlain, to whose conduct at Bosworth Field the king

was indebted for his crown.

On the subject of these arrests and the nature of Stanley's

complicity we have no new light

. We have, however, some

interesting notices of Henry VII.'s mode of dealing with

treason in this and other cases. An anonymous informer,

who seems to have been the original cause of the Duke of

Buckingham's fall in Henry VIII.'s time, speaking of the

accusations against that nobleman, says

' The king that dead

is,

whom God pardon! would handle such a cause circum-

spectly, and with convenient diligence for inveigling, and yet

not disclose it, to the party nor otherwise, by a great space

It is unfortunate that we have not the record of Stanley's trial in the

Baga de Secretis. Speed after referring to the statement of Polydore Vergil

that he had said to Clifford ' he would never bear arms against the young

man if he knew him for certain to be the son of King Edward,' adds:

' But Bernard Andreas directly saith that (besides bare words and purposes),

Sit William had supported Perkin's cause with treasure, wherein he is

recorded to have abounded.' This is not strictly accurate; for, in point of

fact, Bernard Andre does not say that Sir William 'had supported'

Perkin's cause with treasure, but only that he promised so to support it,

and that he would use his wealth to bring him safely into the kingdom.

Memorials of Henry VII., 69. Of course such a promise, however guarded,

was dangerous double dealing and treason.

288 PERKIN WARBECK.

after, but keep it to

himself,

and always grope further, having

ever good await and espial to the party. I am sure his

Highness knew of the untrue mind and treason compassed

against him by Sir William Stanley, and divers other great

men, two or three years before that he laid it to their charge,

and kept it secret, and always gathered upon them more and

Henry, however, while always awake to suspicion, and

taking full note of everything he heard, never seems to have

encouraged voluntary informers. On one occasion, when some

dangerous political conversations were reported in the Council

of Calais, some remarked, ' It were good that the king's grace

knew these sayings.' To which Sir Hugh Con way replied, ' If

ye knew King Harry, our master, as I do, ye would beware

how ye brake to him in any such matters, for he would take it

to be said but of envy, ill-will, and malice. Then should any

one have blame and no thank for his truth and good mind;

and that I have well proved heretofore in like causes.' He

then proceeded to state that when he told the king of Lord

Lovel's disaffection, of which he had obtained the knowledge

himself by taking oath not to name his informant, the king

insisted that it could not be so, and, at last, asking him from

whom he heard it, was exceedingly displeased with him that

he would not tell. On this the deputy rejoined that he well

knew the king was hard of belief in such matters, and that it

was long before he would credit the reports against Sir James

Tyrell. Moreover, he had written once to the king that Sir

Robert Clifford told a lady at Calais that Perkin Warbeck was

King Edward's son. ' Never words,' said the deputy, ' went

colder to my heart than they did. His highness sent me sharp

writing again, that he would have the proofs of this matter. I

had no witness then but

myself;

but, as it happened afterwards,

I caused him by good craft to confess the same he had said to

Brewer's

Letters,

&c, of

Henry

VIII.

vol. iii., Preface,

cxiii.

SIR WILLIAM STANLEY. 289

me before him that was marshal here at that time; arid else I

had [been] likely to be put to a great plunge for my truth."

From this view of Henry VII.'s character and policy it is not

unreasonable to suppose that the arrest of Sir William Stanley

was a measure intended to disconcert some special projects

which at that particular time had gathered to a head. Whatever

may have been Stanley's connection with the plot, it seems to

have been the opinion of well-informed persons that the king

knew quite as much of it long before he was informed by

Clifford, nor is it likely that the latter would have ventured to

accuse so great a person as the Lord Chamberlain if he had not

been encouraged by the king beforehand.

But we need not rest on likelihoods as regards the plot

itself,

concerning which there is positive evidence abroad,

which has not been hitherto used by English historians. Some

of this we have seen already; but there are further documents

showing that the plan for an attack on England in favour of

the pretender had reached a high state of maturity at the very

date of Sir William Stanley's arrest. In fact, it may be not

unreasonably conjectured that the invasion was delayed two or

three months in consequence of that decisive blow, which, in

the words of Lord Bacon, " did extremely quail the design of

Perkin and his complices." One thing, at least, is certain, that

just at that very time what looks like a final step was taken—

futile enough, indeed, as matters turned out—to secure the

promoters of the expedition against financial loss, or at least

to make it appear worth while as a commercial speculation.

On the 24th January, 1495, the pretender signed at Mechlin,

in presence not only of his professed "aunt," the Duchess

Margaret, but also of the Archbishop of Mayence (one of the

electors of the Holy Roman Empire) and two councillors of the

Archduke Philip, a public document, still extant, in which he

first acknowledged the great goodness of Maximilian King of

Letters,

isc.

Richard

III.

and Henry

VII. vol. i. pp. 234, 235.

G. 19